You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2011.
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Acts 20:24
Few Jews would take the shorter route through Samaria even if it was a shorter and easier route along the Jordan River. The Samaritans and Jews had been enemies for years and the biggest point of contention was where and how to worship God.
One day Jesus took the short route (John 4) from Jerusalem home to Galilee. John’s account of the story said he ‘had to go through Samaria’. He didn’t have to go through Samaria for physical reasons. He ‘had to go through Samaria’ because someone had a meeting with destiny and he ‘had’ to be there for that.
It was noon when he arrived at the small hamlet of Sychar. All the respectable women of the town where home tending to family. Everyone knew it was cooler and easier to fill the water jugs in the morning. Besides, it was a great time to catch up with the gossip and connect with friends.
So why did Jesus meet the woman at the well at this odd time? She was avoiding people. She was the talk of the town. Married five times, living with a man that wasn’t her husband. We aren’t told how many families she’d broken up. How many children were fatherless because she came into the picture? She’d evidently given up on the concept of marriage after five times and decided to live ‘in sin’ with man #6.
She was a tenacious woman. Even after all she’d been through she still had an edge to her. Jesus asks for a drink and she snaps, “Who are you, a Jew, to ask me for a drink.”
Jesus mentions God and the woman tries to pick a fight. “We Samaritans worship the right way. You Jews are wrong about Jerusalem.”
Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly what she said, but think about how often our first step, when it comes to spiritual things, is to defend our doctrine, theology or denominational affiliation and distinctive.
Jesus dodges the issue. “Worshipping God isn’t about a place, or about a style. It’s about the heart. If you’d asked me I could give you something to fill that huge hole in yours.”
Now he had her attention. Six men. Six relationships. Six chances at being filled and still nothing. You know the rest of the story. After her talk with Jesus she goes into town. Everyone knew her because of her reputation. After her testimony, everyone knew Jesus because of the change he brought into her life.
The enemy lies to us about our Testimony. He tells us that our identity comes from our religious affiliation. (I’m a Baptist; I’m a Lutheran; I’m Methodist) He urges us to skirt the real issues of the heart and concentrate on externals. The Lie: Good Christians are known by their noisy Stand.
The word testimony comes from the word root word meaning witness. It carries with it the idea of a firsthand authentication of a fact, or of evidence of something seen or experienced. Effective testimony is an outward sign of an inner change.
Many believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t backed with scripture and training. It didn’t direct people to a particular denomination or religious persuasion. It was a simple message, Come and See:
- Come and See the man that knows me;
- Come and See the man that loves me;
- Come and See the man that understands me;
- Come and See the man that respects me (no other man ever has);
- Come and See the man who is more interested in relationship that religion.
The Truth Statement in the battle for our testimony is this, “Our testimony steers people away from religion and towards a personal, passionate love relationship with Jesus.
PRAYER: Father, I sometimes get so caught up in myself and man-made rules that I forget that all you really want is to have a relationship with those around me. Empower me by your Spirit to refrain from steering people to religion. May my life show others the relationship I have with you. Amen.
All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
Trust: To place confidence in and rely on the truthfulness of something or someone.
Trust has to earned, usually over the passage of time. The enemy wants you to believe that during those times when God is silent it’s because he is either unable to provide the answers you need or is able but simply doesn’t care. God’s silence leaves us feeling abandoned and questioning why? Why, when he promises to be with us always, does he leave us when we need him the most? Why, when we seek his power to handle life’s most difficult problems does he seem distant or non-existent?
In a word, the lie the enemy wants us to believe is that God’s silence indicates Apathy. The lie comes to us in different ways. Religion tells us that God leaves us because we have sinned. As sinners before an angry God he refuses to listen to us. In order to offer us some relief religion gives us a list of rule and regulations, dos and don’ts that will hopefully appease him.
The humanist version of the lie is that IF there is a God he is only available to those who help themselves. This version of the lie puts the onus of our success emotionally, physically and spiritually on us. We fail to achieve. We try harder and fail more miserably. Once again the negative spiral continues. The deeper it goes the more desperate we feel.
The version of the God is apathetic lie given to us by society is that we are crazy for even seeking him. He’s dead after all. The Bible is nothing but a meaningless set of stories and outdated writings. Society tells us that science and education are the answer, not a distant concept of some supreme being.
The second aspect of trust is that it is earned over a period of time. Take a look a few other people who trusted God when he seemed absent, distant or apathetic.
- Noah built the ark and warned a people that had never seen rain that it would soon rain and a flood would come. Finally, God’s promised judgment took place, but only after Noah and his family suffered verbal abuse for their actions.
- Abraham was promised a son and yet that son didn’t come until he was long after child-bearing age. When the son finally came, God called on him to execute this ‘son of promise’.
- Joseph waited for God’s promise to deliver the Israelites fromEgypt. He never got to see the fulfillment of God’s promise, yet he never lost hope.
- David was anointed king but was subjected to humiliation, verbal and physical attack and attempted murder for years until he was finally able to ascend the throne.
- Job lost his family, his money and his health. He was maligned by alleged friends and his wife. Yet even though God eventually restored him to health and gave him more wealth than he had before, no explanation was given for the struggles he endured.
The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us all that many have gone through life enduring trials that seem insurmountable. They lived holy lives of faith and trust yet never saw God’s promises fulfilled in their life times. Our human nature leads us to think that God’s promise of blessing will happen in our lifetime, but the real blessing comes after we leave this earthly shell we call a body.
The Truth Statement in the battle for trust is: Trust in God allows us to live at peace in present difficulties with hope built on the future.
PRAYER: Father God, during the times of darkness and struggle I sometimes lose sight of the fact that you never promised my life here would be easy. During the times you seem distant keep me from listening to the lies of the enemy. Empower me with your Spirit to trust you regardless of earthly struggle. Amen.
[From the series: “Lies that Keep Us from Loving Ourselves”
Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. Amos 7:7-8 (NLT)
I remember a Sunday School story from years ago. It was the story of a little girl that got caught lying to her Grandma. After being ‘caught red handed’ the little girl confessed that she lied but it didn’t seem like such a big deal because it was just ‘a little white lie’.
The wise grandmother said nothing. She asked the little girl if she’d like to help make brownies, which of course, she did. After adding all the ingredients from the recipe grandma handed the girl a small bowl and asked her to go out to the barn and ask grandpa for a small bowl of manure to put in the brownies so they could finish baking them.
The girl was appalled! “Grandma! We can’t put manure in the brownies. It will ruin them.” Grandma assured her that it would only be a little bit of manure, not much, and she’d hardly taste it.” The argument continued until grandma smiled and put her hand on the little girls arm.
Honey, you’re right. We won’t put any manure in the brownies. Even a little bit would completely ruin the whole batch. But that’s like sin, even little white lies destroy our relationship with God and with others.
It was a lesson well learned by the little girl…and me for that matter. The enemy wants us to believe that small sins don’t matter. Especially those things we do in private that only affect ourselves. “The Lie he wants us to believe is that “Little sins only hurt me.”
This lie of the enemy is flawed in two ways. First of all, there are no small sins in God’s eyes. Sin is sin. Period. It doesn’t matter how large it is or how small it is. It isn’t important if the thing you have done affects thousands or yourself alone. In God’s eyes there is no difference.
That’s a good news/bad news situation for us. Because there is no ‘sin hierarchy’ in God’s eyes then anything you have done that you (or others) consider horrendous is on the same level as what others may consider ‘minor sins.’ The bad news is that you are no better off than any other sinner! This puts us in the same class as a child molester, or a terrorist or any other person. Sin is sin. Period.
The other flaw in the enemies lie to us is that sin is something we do against God, not people. People may have the scars. People may bear the pain of our sin. But ultimately our sin isn’t against ourselves or anyone else. It’s against God himself. That makes his forgiveness and acceptance of us even more amazing.
When we buy into the enemies lie about sin we tend to rationalize about it (He did it so I can too; If you think this is bad, you should see what she did; I know it’s wrong but…) or we play the comparison game (at least I’m not as bad as…). When we do this we are trying to live by human standards and not God’s standards.
In Isaiah, God says, I’ll set the plumb line. I’ll do the measuring. If you fall short of my standards in ANY way you will be judged. Only by the Grace of God and the forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ can we approach God.
Increased love for Jesus leads naturally to obedience just as increased love for our lover drives us to want to do whatever we can to make that person know how much we love them. The sign of a person that loves you is that he/she encourages you to do what you excel at; supports your dreams; seeks your good, not theirs. That’s what Jesus has done for each of us.
In spite of our sin we are loved dearly by him. That’s why he came to die for us. God will do whatever he can to build a passionate love relationship with you but obedience is the key to that relationship.
Truth Statement: Sin is sin and affects our relationship with God regardless of how it affects others. (But complete forgiveness is available through Jesus Christ no matter what we’ve done, big or small!)
PRAYER: Father God, I’ve been listening to the lie about sin. I have many ‘little habits, or vices’ that I know are wrong but have overlooked them because I didn’t think they hurt anyone. Now I realize they hurt you and our relationship. Forgive me for the little things. Empower me to stop listening to the lie and live for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
(From the series “Lies that Keep Us from Loving Ourselves. Osceola Community Church-October 2011)
[To my friends at OCC, the next couple days are review of points we talked about on Sunday for the benefit of my other Blog readers and those who weren’t able to be with us. Have a blessed week.]
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)
The Lie: My Distress signals God’s Disgust
In the battle for peace of mind, the enemy tries to get us to believe the lie that the struggles we go through in life are somehow the result of God’s hatred of us. Because of our sin and refusal to obey God sends all sorts of terrible things our way to punish us. Some have linked natural disasters, plagues and political upheaval to God’s anger and vengeance. Make no mistake about it sin has an effect on nature and the events of our lives. However, we often mistake God’s silence as God’s disgust or anger rather than the natural consequence of sin.
The rules God has put in place for us aren’t some unplanned system of meaningless rules. They are there for a reason. God hates sin, but not sinners. God doesn’t hate people living a gay lifestyle, but he is opposed to the activities involved in that lifestyle. God hates divorce, but he doesn’t hate people who are divorced. God hates abortion and murder, but he doesn’t hate the people who are involved in abortion or murder. God loves people unconditionally, but because of his holiness can’t allow sin to be any part of his relationship with us.
There is a thing we call conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. When we as Christ-followers sin, the Holy Spirit guides us towards repentance so our relationship with God can be restored. True peace of mind comes when we change course by confessing our sin, asking forgiveness, and changing our mindset towards that sin (repentence).
When the enemy reminds us of sin he does so in order to cripple us, to keep us defeated and living in guilt. Once we have asked Christ to forgive us of our sin we no longer need to feel guilt. We are free. Forgiven!!
When we are going through tough stuff in life we must learn to trust God. We have to remember and live in the truth that God is, in essence, love. Even if we don’t agree or understand why he does what he does his actions are based on unconditional love for us. Secondly, we must believe we are forgiven. Satan loves to remind us of our faults long after God has forgiven them. Placing false guilt on the believer is one of his favorite weapons. Lastly, remember that God is sovereign. That means that absolutely nothing can happen without his knowing about it and allowing it to happen.
You may have done something terribly wrong. You may be feeling guilt right now for mistakes of your past. You may even be living with life-long consequences for what you did years ago. Remember that even though you may be living in the consequences of sin God has forgiven you. He promises to protect and comfort even during those times. Living in the consequences of sin doesn’t mean you aren’t forgiven. Notice the verse for today. The words are not “If you walk through deep waters, but when. You will suffer struggles. You will have things to endure. You will feel distant from God from time to time. That doesn’t change the fact that he is there for you.
Truth Statement: God forgives the penalty for our sin and strengthens us through the consequences.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m being constantly reminded of things in my past that I know you have forgiven. The enemy continues to trouble me with thoughts of my failure and rebellion towards your ways. I hereby claim the freedom and peace of mind that comes from your forgiveness. With the power of your Spirit I refuse to listen to Satan’s lies about this. Thank you for your love. Amen.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT)
If you have ever been arrested and charged in a criminal case, or suspected of a crime that you did or didn’t commit, or have struggled with some addiction or another you know how your past can haunt you.
Maybe you are a believer who has gone through divorce. Perhaps, as a young person you made some horrible mistake. You may have failed a couple times on business ventures that you were sure would be successful and, instead of making money, you lost money and not only your own, but your investors, the people that trusted you with their money.
The enemy loves to bring up your past. He loves to remind you of your failures and your sins. He uses your past to cause doubt or worry. He uses your past to keep you from looking to the future because he knows that as long as he can get you to dwell on the past he can rob you of fulfilling your dreams or using the gifts God has given you.
The Big Lie he uses to threaten your future is that ‘YOUR PAST DISQUALIFIES YOU FROM BEING ALL GOD HAD PLANNED FOR YOU. Remember, he loves to quote scripture. So he may remind you that ‘All things work together for good to those who love God’ (a slight rephrasing of Romans 8:28). Then he’ll go on to remind you that your disobedience proves you don’t love God. Therefore no good can come from your life. Focusing on our past handcuffs our ability to have vision for the future.
What the enemy doesn’t want you to do is to look at the type of people God used for mighty things in the Bible. Adam and Eve lied. Abraham slept with his wife’s servant. David was a murderer, an adulterer, a conniver and, as a parent he failed to instill discipline in his children. All throughout the Bible God has used people with questionable pasts to fulfill his Kingdom work.
God’s ways are completely opposite of our ways. We look for people with NO SCARS and make them leaders; God looks for people WITH SCARS and makes them leaders. When God formed you in the womb of your mother he saw your entire life. He knew your victories. He knew your failures. He knew if you’d be divorced, an addict, an abusive or absentee parent or a child molester. Still, he created you and loved you enough to offer you forgiveness, hope for the future and eternal life with him.
2 Corinthians 1:4 teaches us that the very things you struggle with are things God can use or comfort and encourage others. The best counselors in rehabilitation centers are those who have gone through addictions. The best grief counselors are those that have lost loved ones. The best people to help someone who has suffered the devastation of abortion are those who have had an abortion themselves.
What is your loss? What mistakes have you made? What have you learned from those mistakes? How can you use them to help others in the same situation? As Christ followers we have the answers to the problems people are going through. Don’t let your past keep you from giving others a future.
Truth Statement: The struggles of your past empower you to encourage those who are struggling.
PRAYER: Father God, it amazes me to think that you knew all my mistakes before they happened. What’s even more amazing is that you want to use me in spite of myself! Forgive me for my past. Empower me to use the lessons of my past to encourage others. Keep me from believing the lies of the enemy. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 